WBIG
WBIG is a primary MyTV affiliate (with secondary affiliation with Ion Television) that serves the Rogueport, Mushroom Kingdom region. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 (virtual channel 69.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter on Sardine Road in West Rogueport. The station is owned by WarioWare, Inc.; the Koopa Troop Communications, which owns ABN affiliate WAOG (channel 23) and Koopa Troop Television Network O&O WAFR (channel 44) via its subsidiary Koopa Troop Stations, operates WBIG under joint sales and shared services agreements. History The station first signed on the air on June 10, 1985 as WJHR-TV,' '''an independent station owned by Joseph H. Rosewell (whose initials served as the station's call letters) The station maintained a general entertainment format featuring cartoons, sitcoms, movies and drama series. The station's transmitter and studios located in West Rogueport, which the station remained there today. The station was plagued by financial problems for several reasons. It was located on the high-numbered UHF channel and its signal was very weak that even cable companies refused to carry the station at all. Its signal only viewable just outside Roanoke county, and barely viewable in most outer areas (including Glitzville). It also having difficulty in acquiring syndicated programming due to heavy competition with WRPM-TV (channel 39, now a Fox affiliate) and WRXT (channel 17, now The CW affiliate) with both stations picked up many higher-rated shows, leaving WJHR only with low budget ones. The station subsequently signed on W26DH as a translator serving Glitzville. Still, the station signal problems continued for its first year of operations. On March 30, 1986, Rosewell brought a construction permit for the channel 56 in Pantora from Rogueport Christian Broadcasting, which intended to build the station as WHCN, airing Religious and family-oriented programming. WHCN signed on the air on August 1, 1986, operating as a full-time satellite station of WJHR. That station's transmitter located in Venora, 13 miles west of Rogueport, providing combined strong signal with about 57% overlap. Soon after WHCN signed on, Rosewell applied with the FCC for swapping channels, which would have WJHR moved to channel 24 and WHCN moves to channel 69 but still transmitting from the same location. The FCC approved the application on September 16, and the two stations swapped their channels and call letters two weeks later on September 30, with channel 24 became WJHR-TV and channel 69 became '''WHCN'.' '''The station continued to placed behind WRPM and WRXT in ratings due to its lower budget programming, though more higher-rated shows has began added to its lineup. When Act III Broadcasting acquired WRPM-TV in 1989, The company soon offered Rosewell for having the station's stronger programming merged with WRPM ones, while WJHR would air the lower-rated shows and WHCN would be sold to general manager Morris Payne and cease its status as a satellite of WJHR. Rosewell accepted, and the changes took effect on February 27, 1990. WHCN then became a separate station airing programming from the Home Shopping Network, along with a few movies and cartoons on its lineup. The sale to Payne was completed on May 24. Payne sold the station to Paxson Communications (now Ion Media Networks) on January 29, 1994. Paxson then changed the station's call letters to '''WEBU'. The station's programming format remained intact until 1997, when the station adopted an infomercial format provided by Paxson's Infomail TV Network (inTV) service. Paxson changed the call letters once again, this time to WPXR '(for '''P'a'''X R'''ogueport) on January 13, 1998. WPXR then became a charter station of Paxson's new family-oriented broadcast network Pax TV when it launched on August 31, 1998 and carried the network's entire schedule, with practically no local programming. In July 2005, Pax TV changed its name to "i", and on January 29, 2007, the network became Ion Television. Becoming WBIG On May 21, 2008, Ion Media Networks announced that the company would sell WPXR to Koopa Troop Communications. The sale was approved by the FCC on October 14 and completed two days later. On March 19, 2009, Koopa Troop Communications announced that the company would sign affiliation deal with Mead Enterprises, which planned to launch a new broadcast network as MyTV, for affiliating its Ion-affiliated and Independent stations with that network. When MyTV launched on September 3, 2009, the station changed its call letters to '''WBIG and rebranded to Big TV.'' ''WBIG then aired Ion programming out of pattern. On January 2, 2017, Koopa Troop Communications acquired WAOG from Champion Digital Broadcasting, the company then sold WBIG to WarioWare, Inc. for $1.6 million and subsequently entered into local marketing agreement with the station.Category:Television channels and stations established in 1985 Category:Koopa Troop Communications Category:Ion Television affiliates Category:Former Independent stations Category:Mushroom Kingdom Category:Channel 69 Category:MyTV affiliated stations Category:Rogueport Category:Dual-affiliated stations